The basis of gaslighting is the production of confusion in the victim to the point where the victim is unable to recognize reality, unable to differentiate truth from lies, unable to function without the guidance of the manipulator.

But the fact is Mr. McCain is in the same political party as Mr. Bush, financed and advised by the same people as Mr. Bush, and a purveyor of essentially the same dogma and gaslighting techniques that have come close to wrecking the soul of this country by what Bryant Welch calls "an assault on the American mind" -- an assault on all of us.

Gaslighting is a form of psychological abuse in which false information is presented with the intent of making a victim doubt his or her own memory and perception. It may simply be the denial by an abuser that previous abusive incidents ever occurred, or it could be the staging of bizarre events by the abuser with the intention of disorienting the victim.

The term "gaslighting" comes from the play Gas Light and its film adaptations. In those works a character uses a variety of tricks, including turning the gas lamps lower than normal, to convince his spouse that she is crazy. Since then it became a colloquial expression which has now also been used in clinical and research literature